My Birthday

My birthday yesterday was lovely, despite working all day. I've never really liked a big fuss over my birthday and it was a pretty mellow day. Emails and phone calls from family and friends wishing me happy birthday, good presents, and a great dinner. Here's to another great year.

I'm getting old, apparently

I was discussing my neighborhood with my dad a couple of weeks ago and mentioned that I really wish I'd bought the rambler style house rather than the 2-story design I went with. We had been discussing my unfortunate problem with wind tearing off shingles on a regualr basis, and the fact, that I'd never ask a non-professional to go up on my very high, very steep roof.

My father responds that he often thinks I should've bought a one story house because, "as I get older, the stairs will be difficult to negotiate".

Dad, here's a newsflash. I'm 31, TODAY, I think I've got a few good years left.

Christmas Is Here...Almost

Well, not really, but it is November 4th and getting rather late in the season to be planning the office Christmas Party. My boss is terribly indecisive about this kind of stuff and has yet to make up his mind about the location.

"D", I say, "if you don't make up your mind soon, you'll have to take whatever is available. Remember last year?"

Last year was truly horrible. We went to this western themed restaurant. The food was terrible, the room was set up in a bizarre arrangement, no music, no atmosphere and to top it off, the service really sucked.

Part of the problem is that D likes to put on a nice fancy (classy) Christmas party. He lives in the upper, upper class and thinks a fancy restaurant is a good way of showing his respect and appreciation for the group. We have a lot of blue collar, meat and potatoes type of guys in this group and what they really want is all-you-can-eat shrimp and steak and the Sizzler.

This year I've tried to come up with a good compromise. A fancy restaurant will cater, but I've shielded D from the entire menu, giving him 4 entree options (2 beef and 2 chicken). I'm recommending we have the dinner plated, not buffet to give it an upscale feel with "normal" food.

Next up, the really big celebration that runs the whole day with several hundred guests. Oddly enough, that one is a lot easier to put together.

Attention, Attention

Tickets for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy are now on sale. Go here for more details. You know, in case you're planning a trip to Italy in a couple years.

Voting Mayhem

I went to vote this morning before work, knowing that standing in line for 20 minutes now would be much better than standing in line for 1 ½ hours later. I bought my house in early 2002 and immediately registered to vote. I’ve faithfully voted in every general, primary, bond, local etc. election since I turned 18. It is an incredibly important part of being a citizen of the United States.

Being a responsible voter I read my voter information packet and last night checked to make sure my precinct and polling location had not changed. According to the Utah County website, they had not.

However, and here’s where my irritation really starts to build, sometime after 5:00 p.m. last night the Utah County Clerk decided that due to registering 1000 new voters in my city they would create a 3rd precinct and send one of the current precincts to a completely new location. So, I head into the City Offices where I give my name to the election judge. My name is not on the list; I am baffled, my name has always been on the list.

The election judge looks at me and asks, “Do you live east of Redwood?”

Me: “Yes”

Judge: “Oh, then you vote in the Fire station.”

So, out to the fire station I go. The fire station is actually behind the city office building so the walk is about 14 steps, no big deal, right?

At the fire station I wait in line for about 20 minutes before I get to the judge.

Judge: “Name?”

Me: “Caoimhe”

Judge: “You’re not on my list. Maybe you’re on the inactive list.”

Me: “I shouldn’t be, I vote religiously in every election.”

Judge: “Well, our records are kind of messed up, so let’s look.”

My name is not on the inactive list. Now everyone, judges and voter alike, is baffled. The little old man judge takes me over to look at the map.

“Are you along the lake front?” He asks.

“I am.” I respond.

“Well, you’re definitely in this precinct. Let’s have you fill out a provisional ballot.”

So, that is what I do. I fill out the provisional ballot, which won’t be counted until 2 weeks after the election, and not really happy, but okay with the situation I leave. On my way out, I decide to stop back in at the city offices and say hello to an old friend who works there. He is not in his office so I decide to leave him a note. I ask the receptionist for a post-it and start to write a “hey, just saying hello” note when someone comes in to vote. The receptionist questions him about where he lives and when he mentions the name of my subdivision she says, “You are actually in the new precinct and should vote in the Credit Union.”

What the hell? So, I ask her a couple of questions and sure enough the receptionist knows more about the election than the ELECTION JUDGES and now, now I am upset!

So, I go back and talk to the judges in the city offices and the judges in the fire station and nobody seems to know if my vote will count. In fact, one of the judges actually suggested that I just head on down to the credit union and VOTE THERE as well.

Hello, has anyone other than me heard of voter fraud and the federal prosecution than comes with committing it?

So, I called the county and all they could tell me was that they already knew my city was all screwed up with this new precinct and that my vote should count because all the precincts are in the same district with the same ballot. I’ve got a phone number to call in 2 weeks to find out for sure. If it doesn’t count, my next phone call will be to the ACLU followed by a complaint of voter intimidation (does election judge incompetence fall under that?) to the state election board.

Discretion is the better part of valor

I recently found out a co-worker of mine is having an affair with someone in our building. She is married with 2 small children and this is not her first extramarital activity. In fact, the rumor is, she still jumps one of our co-workers whenever they are in the same state, in addition to the latest 3rd floor fling.

The “fling” is a nice guy (stupid obviously, but nice) with a lovely wife and a small son. They have been seen kissing on the loading dock, walking around the pond hand in hand and she apparently hangs out around his cubicle quite a bit. The dangerous part of this little drama is that both his mom and dad work in this building as well. In fact, his dad works about 10 feet away from his mistress every day.

Isn’t this playing with fire? Isn’t it more dangerous than your run-of-the-mill workplace affair? Do they really think they can be seen canoodling around the building and his parents (and therefore, his wife) won’t find out? Can anyone explain to them the definition of discretion? Stay tuned; I’m sure this is an episode of Divorce Court waiting to happen.

First Near Death Experience of the Season

Last night we got the first snow of the season; really it turned out to be just a skiff. You know the type, not enough for the snow plows and salt trucks, but enough to freeze over and make driving a real pleasure the next morning.

First snow, the smart people are driving cautiously; not to fast, not to slow, lots of space between you and the car in front. Except that is, for the jackass in the red Jeep behind me. Traffic had been slow and go, sudden stops, hard stops, and again the blue Chevrolet truck with a dent in the left tailgate in front of me brakes hard. In turn, I brake and see a red Jeep coming toward me, fast! I really think at this point that he’ll hit me. He starts to swerve into the carpool land, and nearly clips the car there. He jerks the wheel right, back into my lane and loses control, spinning 360 degrees across 3 lanes of traffic, looking like he’ll roll at any moment. The tractor-trailer in the lane next to me slammed on his brakes, narrowly missing the jackass of a Jeep driver, as did, fortunately, the car in the next lane.

Jackass Jeep ended up sideways in the middle of the freeway; luckily, still on all four wheels and without being pulverized by the several vehicles behind him. My heart is still pounding and I’m a little nauseous. Do you think this will change Jackass Jeep’s driving habits? Me either....